Jack M. Lauzon (born December 5, 1961) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

whom ''

The Blood-Horse ''BloodHorse'' is a multimedia news organization covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding that started with a newsletter first published in 1916 as a monthly bulletin put out by the Thoroughbred Horse Association.

'' magazine called "one of the most respected riders in Canada." Lauzon began his professional riding career in 1981 and met with considerable success at

Fort Erie Racetrack Fort Erie Race Track is a horse racing facility in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, that opened on June 16, 1897. The racetrack is often referred to as "the border oval" because of the track's proximity (barely a mile as the crow flies) to the U.S. bo ...

Greenwood Raceway Greenwood Raceway (originally Woodbine Race Course) was a horse racing facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History Woodbine Race Course Inaugurated in 1874 as Woodbine Race Course at the foot of Woodbine Avenue and Lake Ontario, it was owned a ...

and

Woodbine Racetrack Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track ...

and won races in the United States. He is a two-time winner of Canada's most prestigious race, the

Queen's Plate The King's Plate (known as the Queen's Plate between 1860 to 1901 and 1952 to 2022) is Canada's oldest Thoroughbred horse race, having been founded in 1860. It is also the oldest continuously run race in North America. It is run at a distance of ...

. He won his first Plate in 1988 aboard

Regal Intention Regal Intention (1985–2008) is a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background A grandson of Northern Dancer, he was out of the mare, Tiffany Tam and sired by the important Vice Regent who also sired his stablemate and arch rival, ...

then the following year missed winning the race again when his horse was beaten by less than a nose. In 1994 he won his second Plate aboard

Basqueian Basqueian (foaled 1991) is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse best known for winning two of the 1994 Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, Canadian Triple Crown races. Basqueian was bred and raced by prominent businessman and ...

plus went on that year to win the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown series, the

Breeders' Stakes The Breeders' Stakes is a stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses foaled in Canada, first run in 1889. Since 1959, it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds. Held annually in August at Woodbine Racetrack in To ...

Accident and recovery

In August 1996 Jack Lauzon was competing at the

Macau Jockey Club The Macau Jockey Club (MJC; , Portuguese: Jockey Clube de Macau) is an organization providing horse racing and betting entertainment in Macau, China. MJC is one of the largest private employers of Macau with around 1,400 employees and around 1,100 ...

near

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

when he was involved in a racing accident that most believed would end his career. He was paralysed from the chest down after fracturing three

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

and was within a hair of severing his

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

. After more than two and half years of painful rehabilitation therapy, he returned to racing in April 1999. In 2005, writer/broadcaster Peter Gross won a Sovereign Award for Outstanding Newspaper Article with the story of Lauzon's accident and recovery titled "The Amazing Story of Jack Lauzon" which appeared in ''The Game'' newspaper. Jack Lauzon retired in 2007 and became a jockey's agent. As a Agent for Omar Moreno guided Omar to become a Two-time Sovereign Award (Canada) and Eclipse Award (America) Leading Apprentice. With His contribution to the sport of Thoroughbred racing was honoured with the 2008

Avelino Gomez Memorial Award The Avelino Gomez Memorial Award is a Canadian thoroughbred horse racing honour given annually to a jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the spo ...

References

May 22, 2008 ''Bloodhorse.com'' article titled ''Jack Lauzon Wins Avelino Gomez Award''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauzon, Jack M. 1961 births Avelino Gomez Memorial Award winners Canadian jockeys Sportspeople from Welland Living people